Cold War Architecture and Urbanism in Agadir: Modernism, Decolonization, and Catastrophe
Urbanisms of the Global South: Nuances, Particularities, and Implications
September 8, 2025
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location
CUPPAH 110
Calendar
Download iCal FileJoin Riad Kherdeen, Assistant Professor of Art History, UIC and
Commentator, Şevin Yildiz, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, UIC
This research explores the reconstruction of Agadir, Morocco, after the 1960 earthquake as a pivotal moment in the entanglement of modernism, decolonization, and Cold War geopolitics. It analyzes the competing masterplans—one by the American firm Harland Bartholomew and Associates and another by Pierre Mas and Jean Challet for the Moroccan Service of Urbanism—framing the city’s rebuilding as a site of ideological and architectural struggle. This work argues that technocratic modernism, shaped by seismic risk and state authority, perpetuated colonial planning legacies under a postcolonial guise, raising critical questions about power, design, and the politics of reconstruction in twentieth-century Morocco.
Date posted
Aug 23, 2025
Date updated
Aug 23, 2025